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Come join the Mesquite Milling Community for Phoenix!
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Why the need to use a hammermill:
Only part of the bean is edible
The pulp between the shell and the seed is the most accessible part we use for food. The pith around the stone hard seeds has the protein rich material. Together this provides a nutrient rich food source.
Home milling is not up to the task
Common household milling methods are just not up to the task, and most cannot crack the hard seed coats. In the past, local indigenous tribes used special grinding stones and a lot of physical effort.
A Hammermill does a complete job
A hammermill can crush and grind both the pith and the super hard seeds, discarding the inedible debris in the same process. The resulting yield is higher retention of the nutritious edible portion of the bean.
The hammermill we obtained is perfect for our needs
With this heavy duty, yet easily transportable mill, we can pound the tough mesquite beans into the nutritious flour in less than an hour, and do it wherever we set up our Pop-Up Milling events.
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"Within the United States, southern border counties have twice the level of poverty and food insecurity as the national average. How do we deal with the irony that some of these same counties harbor the highest levels of biodiversity anywhere in North America? In other words, they have an abundance of underutilized natural resources that may help lift residents out of poverty–if properly managed. The Mesquite tree (Prosopis spp.) is one of those resources."
Dr. Gary Nabhan
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"Our new (used) GrowPHX Community Mill brings a new level of food independence to our Valley. One where we can harvest an unlimited resource hanging in trees and turn it into food that nurtures our soul and fills our belly."
- Greg Peterson
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"Mesquite is a whole food. It was the staple of the native peoples of this land for centuries. I am passionate about this project and believe that our fundraising project is critical to bringing many successful years of milling to the Valley."
- Don Titmus
So how does the program work?
Take a class
Learn how to: collect your beans (and when), prepare them for milling, store them until they are milled, and where to take them for milling.
Harvest your beans
Follow the proper procedures to get healthy beans and prepare them for milling.
Get them to the Mill
Take your beans to one of our local events and let us mill them into a delicious, nutritious, flour.
